Easter Eggs au Naturel

Sometimes the simplest things in life are the ones that provide the most pleasure. A cuppa tea with a friend, a walk on the beach or spending a Saturday dying Easter Eggs with two adorable little girls.

It will probably come as no surprise that my favorite way to color eggs is to create amazing dyes from things that you can find in your refrigerator or spice drawer ~ this is a food blog after all. No matter how many times I do this, I am still awestruck by the vibrant and sometimes unexpected colors foods like cabbage, beets, onion skins and tumeric produce. Who would have thought that red cabbage would produce the most vibrant blue/green color? Or how about onion skins. Those papery layers create a gorgeous burnt umber. Tumeric a bright sunshine yellow. I could go on an on, carrot tops – yellow; spinach – green; red zinger tea – lavender; dill seed – golden brown; coffee, tea and walnut shells – brown. The options are almost endless.

Now add some flowers, ferns and leaves wrapped around the eggs and secured with cheese cloth, submerged in the natural dyes for 24 hours and you have a gorgeous work of Easter art.

This year we ~ and by “we”, I mean my son his wife, their beautiful daughter and my dear friend Pam and her gorgeous 4 year old ~ also experimented with old silk ties to create beautifully patterned eggs. BTW aren’t Pam’s images of the eggs absolutely stunning? What a talented lady!

This was such a simple process and the eggs that it produced really were lovely! I ran to our local second hand store and grabbed 5 old 100% silk ties, cut the seams and then cut the tie into as close to squares as a tie shape allows. We used Jumbo eggs, but next time I would opt for large so that the coverage is a little better.

We had such fun! Click the play button and join us at the Table for egg Dying au Naturel. What are your favorite ways to create your Easter eggs? We would love to hear ~ and see your art.

Easter Eggs au Naturel

Author: Leigh Olson

Create Easter egg works of art with cabbage, onion skins, beets, spices and old silk ties!

Ingredients

Natural Egg Dyes {the list below are the ingredients that we used. I have also included a list of other foods and spices should you wish to experiment a little more}

Hard boiled Eggs

1 head of purple cabbage, chopped

3 cups yellow onion skins

2 large red beets, quartered

2 tablespoons tumeric

Water

Vinegar

Olive or vegetable oil

Decorations {gathered from your backyard or local flower shop. Be creative!}

Flowers

Ferns

Leaves

Silk Tie Egg

Uncooked Eggs

100% silk ties

White t-shirts

Water

Vinegar

Olive of vegetable oil

Instructions

Natural Dye

Place 8 cups of water in large pots, one pot for each color.

Place cabbage, beets, onion skins and tumeric in one of each of the pots of water. Boil for 30 minutes